The Role of Testimony and Testimonial Analysis in Human Rights Advocacy and Research

State Crime: Journal of the International State Crime Initiative, Pluto Press, 1.2, Autumn 2012

33 Pages Posted: 28 Nov 2012 Last revised: 26 Nov 2013

See all articles by Ian Patel

Ian Patel

King's College London - The Dickson Poon School of Law

Date Written: November 27, 2012

Abstract

This article addresses the prominence of testimony evidence in the practice and theory of human rights. It examines the use of testimony in legal mechanisms, by international advocacy organizations, and in academic human rights research. It reflects on the reasons behind the prominence of testimony, treating it as a source of evidence, an advocacy tool, and a trope within human rights discourse. This article places testimony in political context, and explores the political implications of the fact that the narrative accounts of victims of state crime are utilized by international advocates/experts as a primary source of evidence. An original theoretical discussion, this article critiques what it perceives to be the dominant epistemology of testimony in a human rights context. It concludes that the meaning and uses of testimony in a human rights context are curated by international experts, a trend that risks the disenfranchisement of witnesses from the meaning and uses to which their testimony is assigned.

Keywords: testimony, self-narration, liberalism, research methods, victim representation, sources of evidence

Suggested Citation

Patel, Ian, The Role of Testimony and Testimonial Analysis in Human Rights Advocacy and Research (November 27, 2012). State Crime: Journal of the International State Crime Initiative, Pluto Press, 1.2, Autumn 2012, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2181368

Ian Patel (Contact Author)

King's College London - The Dickson Poon School of Law ( email )

Somerset House East Wing
Strand
London, WC2R 2LS
United Kingdom

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